How AI Agents Are Changing Who Can Build Software

AI is doing more than helping engineers write code faster. It is starting to change who can participate in software development, how teams divide work, and where technical talent creates the most value. Shaosu Liu, Co Founder and CTO at Loop, explains how his team is using AI agents across the software development lifecycle while also enabling highly technical people outside traditional software engineering roles to build customer specific workflows. The result is a different model for scaling technical work, one that matters for founders and technical leaders thinking about team design in the age of AI. Loop is also using forward deployed engineers as core product engineers who can work directly with customers, understand difficult edge cases, and turn those requirements into product improvements. Takeaways • AI agents can now support much more than coding, including specifications, testing, deployment, validation, rollout, and production management. • Giving technical people better AI tools can expand who is capable of contributing to software development. • The final few percent of a customer workflow may consume most of the manual effort. AI makes that customization more practical. • Forward deployed engineers need both technical ability and the judgment, communication skills, and confidence to work directly with customers. Key Moments 04:37 How Loop uses AI across the software development lifecycle 07:05 Why people outside traditional engineering roles are writing significant amounts of code 09:03 Why automating the final few percent of a workflow can remove most of the remaining manual work 11:01 Why forward deployed engineers matter when customer requirements get complicated 16:37 Why forward deployed engineering is often a path to another role rather than a long term career 19:50 How Loop evaluates technical ability and customer facing skills when hiring One Line That Stuck “That last 5% automation ends up saving 100% of time.” Follow The Tech Trek for more conversations on AI, engineering, product, data, hiring, and technical leadership.